Readers' Letters: Police show restraint when it comes to tasers and children

The headline in Scotland on Sunday (17 December) about tasers being “used 131 times against children” could easily make worrying reading. However, this is 131 times since 2018, so about 26 times a year across a police service with 17,000 police officers operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week across the whole of Scotland. In the vast majority of occasions the taser was drawn and not even pointed, as drawing the taser was itself sufficient to de-escalate the situation.

​​​​​​The United Nations has repeatedly called for a ban on the use of tasers against children (Picture: Carl De Souza/AFP via Getty Images)

That tasers were fired fewer than 1.5 times a year shows astonishing restraint given the level of violence the police face. A violent 17-year-old counts as a child, but how many of us would tackle them and how many would know if they were 16 or 20? These are decisions frontline officers must take without the benefit of hindsight.

Police officers across the UK, and especially in Scotland, are well trained to de-escalate situations. Faced with a potentially hostile aggressor, drawing a taser can be a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and may prevent significant violence.

Nobody wants to see a taser used on a child, but the police show incredible restraint. It could be argued that only firing should be investigated, but every incident of a taser being drawn, pointed or fired is investigated by the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner. This should give the public sufficient comfort that there are checks and balances to protect against taser misuse.

Brian Barbour, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland

Burns unit

The Scottish Government has nine International Offices “to promote Scottish interests overseas”. One is in Copenhagen, which helpfully lists its current priorities. Fourth on that list is “increase Burns Night attendance figures”. I am sure our national poet, an ardent unionist, would be the first to suggest governmental effort and cash spent on this could be better deployed in our schools and health service.

Lord Kinnoull, Convenor of the Crossbench Peers, House of Lords,, London

Insult to Forces

I was dismayed to find out that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke at a festival in Italy organised by the Brothers of Italy political party. This is a party with roots in fascist parties which operated in Italy in the 1940s. Indeed, the France 24 TV station has highlighted that one of the predecessors of the Brothers of Italy party was the Italian Social Movement, formed by allies of Benito Mussolini around 1946. This is, of course, the same Mussolini who was one of Hitler’s main allies during the Second World War.

I find it quite disturbing that a British prime minister should be speaking at an event organised by a political party with these very dubious historical links. Sunak’s support for this event is an insult to the servicemen and woman who fought against the forces of fascism during the Second World War.

Arthur West, Irvine, North Ayrshire

Get together

The time for adversarial politics is over. World events, and Britain’s largely helpless position in them, exclude the luxury of differences between political parties. Britain is on a downward slide, and the focus of those parties – amounting in most cases to no more than social engineering – is doing nothing to reverse that slide. In a dangerous world, where we are no longer a major player, the time for unity of action is here.

Then, once we have stopped our overpopulated and debt-laden ship from sinking, we can rearrange the proverbial deckchairs.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood, Kinross

Write to Scotland on Sunday

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